---
name: "borg-import-tar"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "borg"
version: "1.4.5-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/borg-import-tar"
---

# borg-import-tar(1)

Create a backup archive from a tarball

## Name

borg-import-tar - Create a backup archive from a tarball

## SYNOPSIS

borg \[common options\] import-tar \[options\] ARCHIVE TARFILE

## DESCRIPTION

This command creates a backup archive from a tarball.

When giving '-' as a path, Borg will read a tar stream from standard input.

By default (**--tar-filter=auto**) Borg will detect whether the file is compressed based on its file extension and pipe the file through an appropriate filter:

- •

  .tar.gz or .tgz: gzip -d

- •

  .tar.bz2 or .tbz: bzip2 -d

- •

  .tar.xz or .txz: xz -d

- •

  .tar.zstd or .tar.zst: zstd -d

- •

  .tar.lz4: lz4 -d

Alternatively, a **--tar-filter** program may be explicitly specified. It should read compressed data from stdin and output an uncompressed tar stream on stdout.

Most documentation of **borg create** applies. Note that this command does not support excluding files.

import-tar is a lossy conversion: BSD flags, ACLs, extended attributes (xattrs), atime and ctime are not exported. Timestamp resolution is limited to whole seconds, not the nanosecond resolution otherwise supported by Borg.

A **--sparse** option (as found in borg create) is not supported.

import-tar reads POSIX.1-1988 (ustar), POSIX.1-2001 (pax), GNU tar, UNIX V7 tar and SunOS tar with extended attributes.

To import multiple tarballs into a single archive, they can be simply concatenated (e.g. using "cat") into a single file, and imported with an **--ignore-zeros** option to skip through the stop markers between them.

## OPTIONS

See *[borg-common(1)](/borg-common/1.md)* for common options of Borg commands.

### arguments

- **ARCHIVE**

  name of archive to create (must be also a valid directory name)

- **TARFILE**

  input tar file. "-" to read from stdin instead.

### options

- **--tar-filter**

  filter program to pipe data through

- **-s, --stats**

  print statistics for the created archive

- **--quick-stats**

  print only archive statistics, skipping repository-wide statistics

- **--list**

  output verbose list of items (files, dirs, ...)

- **--filter** *STATUSCHARS*

  only display items with the given status characters

- **--json**

  output stats as JSON (implies --stats)

- **--ignore-zeros**

  ignore zero-filled blocks in the input tarball

### Archive options

- **--comment** *COMMENT*

  add a comment text to the archive

- **--timestamp** *TIMESTAMP*

  manually specify the archive creation date/time (UTC, yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss format). alternatively, give a reference file/directory.

- **-c** *SECONDS,* **--checkpoint-interval** *SECONDS*

  write checkpoint every SECONDS seconds (Default: 1800)

- **--chunker-params** *PARAMS*

  specify the chunker parameters (ALGO, CHUNK\_MIN\_EXP, CHUNK\_MAX\_EXP, HASH\_MASK\_BITS, HASH\_WINDOW\_SIZE). default: buzhash,19,23,21,4095

- **-C** *COMPRESSION,* **--compression** *COMPRESSION*

  select compression algorithm, see the output of the "borg help compression" command for details.

## SEE ALSO

*[borg-common(1)](/borg-common/1.md)*

## Author

The Borg Collective